FRIDAY, LENT 2/WOOLLY 23 DAY 69/WEDDING ANNIVERSARY/CAMBRIDGE-TO-WALSINGHAM VIRTUAL WALKING PILGRIMAGE DAY 9
Redbuds in the ivy-covered woods yesterday afternoon. Today is rainy: not cold, but dank and gloomy. I've taken Dora out for a morning walk of just over half a mile, because we're going to Mass shortly, as part of our anniversary celebration. We won't go out for dinner until tomorrow, to preserve our Lenten abstinence, but still, we're marking the day.
Wearing:
Sierra still, but with thrifted purple cardigan, Snag merino tights, and Xero Tari boots. I'm feeling a little off today after a night of poor sleep, thanks to the wine we drank with our celebratory Anniversary-Vigil dinner, plus some strange heel pain I've been having. What with one thing and another, I suspect that this will be a light walking day, though I aim to get in at least a couple of miles before it's over.
I've been engaged in trying to get a sweat smell out of, of all things, a 100% merino cardigan. I've never had a problem with any of my wool dresses or other cardigans, but this one, my cobalt-blue wool v-neck cardigan, from my January Poshmark purchasing binge . . . for some reason . . . stinks. I tried soaking the armpits in vodka, then hand-washing, but to no avail. I might try a vinegar soak next, and if that fails, I might wait until the sun comes out and hang it in the sun. At any rate, all the claims about wool as anti-odor notwithstanding, here we are. Going back to research everything I've read about neutralizing armpit odor in wool garments. And again, this is unusual for me. I went back and smelled everything I've been wearing, and it's literally just this one cardigan --- which is disappointing, because I love the cardigan. I'm wondering whether it came with this smell, and I just didn't notice it until now. This has happened to me before with secondhand clothing, and while yes, it could be me, especially as I don't habitually wear deodorant or antiperspirant, nothing else I own and wear has this smell. I caught it yesterday because I did smell myself --- which again doesn't tend to happen (and I think I'm not just delusional about this, because I'm fairly sensitive to smells, and I do pay attention to what my clothes smell like).
Anyway, a mystery and a cleaning challenge.
Meanwhile, the baby children are in Cambridge. Last I heard from them, they were having lunch in our old favorite pub, the Free Press, after wandering around trying to find our old building, which neither of them would remember. The 20-year-old was a year old when we left, and the 19-year-old was in utero. I have, however, given them precise directions and told them how to recognize it, as well as directions to the Market Square, Kings College, and our old Anglican parish, Little Saint Mary's. They seem to be having a grand old time together, as they generally do.
****ETA: And here's my son's photo of the building where we lived (on the middle floor, with all those windows looking out over Parker's Piece):
The front door was black in the old days, not blue, but otherwise, it's utterly unchanged. ****
Off to Mass now.
UPDATE: Have walked almost 2.5 miles now. And here's a method for deodorizing a wool cardigan. Mine is soaking in a vinegar solution now.
EVENING UPDATE:
Mass was lovely. We've had a nice salmon dinner at home. I gave my husband some raspberry bushes, which I will plant for him, and then he can have raspberries (mind you, so can I). I've walked 4.13 miles, which is more than I thought I'd walk today. My pilgrimage total thus far is 39.44 miles --- nearly 40 miles in just over a week. Just over 80 miles to go to reach imaginary Walsingham.